HISD board wants “fair and accurate” social studies standards

The Houston school board plans to vote next Thursday on a resolution asking the State Board of Education to adopt “fair and accurate” curriculum standards for social studies. Trustees discussed the idea this morning at the request of board member Manuel Rodriguez Jr., and perhaps surprisingly the nine of them came to a consensus: The standards cover too much ground, include too many specific names of historical figures, and encourage memorization rather than in-depth understanding. They agreed not to nitpick about the politics.

“We have got to get better at teaching deeper, useful knowledge,” Trustee Harvin Moore said. Superintendent Terry Grier agreed, noting that, even with the current standards, there is too much drill-and-kill going on in some HISD schools before the TAKS exams (which test students on the standards).

HISD’s two managers over social studies curriculum, Angela Miller and Michael Dorsey, spelled out their specific concerns to the school board. For example, the proposed new standards include 262 historical figures that students must learn about from elementary through high school. The current standards, they said, include only 60 people. Miller admitted she had to look up some of the 262, such as Wentworth Cheswell, an African American Revolutionary War hero and elected official. The HISD curriculum managers suggested — and the school board agreed — that the State Board should list the historical figures as possible, rather than mandatory, examples. Their fix: Use “such as” before the names, not “including.”

The Texas Education Agency has posted a list of all the names, as well as the proposed standards, if you want to quiz yourself. HISD has created a spreadsheet (via Google docs) detailing the numbers on the historical figures.

Miller and Dorsey also expressed concerns about the increase in the number of objectives that teachers would have to cover — an 11 percent jump across grade levels. One of the largest increases is in 10th grade world history, where the objectives grew from 81 to 120. A memo (from the social studies department (posted in full after the jump or on Google docs) helps explain why that matters:

Some individual objectives by themselves represent large blocks of significant content. For example, given the number of objectives now required for World History and the days in a school year, teachers would have about two days to teach the following single objective: German invasions of Poland and the Soviet Union, the Holocaust, Japanese imperialism, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Normandy landings, and the dropping of the atomic bombs.

As every American knows by now, the State Board of Education approved, on first reading, new social studies standards (the so-called TEKS) in March and drew national controversy for the slew of amendments board members added to the draft proposed by committees of educators. The State Board is slated to vote on final standards in May. Some HISD trustees initially wanted to ask the State Board to revert to the committee-written standards, but State Board member Lawrence Allen, who happens to be an HISD employee (in the strategic partnerships department), discouraged that idea. “I don’t believe we’ll be going back to the original document,” Allen told the trustees.

AREAS OF CONCERN IN THE CURRENT SOCIAL STUDIES TEKS DRAFT AS PUBLISHED IN THE TEXAS REGISTER

A The number of objectives in the required Social Studies curriculum K-12 has increased by nearly 11%. No additional time for instruction has been added to the school year. The bulk of the increase – 23% – occurs in the required high school courses. Of those, three of the courses fall under the new Texas end-of-course STAAR testing program that students must pass to graduate.

World Geography (9th Grade) currently 66; proposed 69

World History (10th Grade) currently 81; proposed 120

U.S. History Since 1877 (11th Grade) currently 92; proposed 127

Government (12th Grade, 1 semester) currently 80; proposed 79

Economics (12th Grade, 1 semester) currently 72; proposed 83

Some individual objectives by themselves represent large blocks of significant content. For example, given the number of objectives now required for World History and the days in a school year, teachers would have about two days to teach the following single objective:

§113.44. (World History) (12)(C)

Explain the major causes and events of World War II, including the German invasions of Poland and the Soviet Union, the Holocaust, Japanese imperialism, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Normandy landings, and the dropping of the atomic bombs.

B The number of people who are now required topics of instruction (by virtue of the TEKS specification “including” rather than the suggested “such as”) has grown significantly. This creates two concerns. One, teachers have fewer opportunity to tailor their instruction to address the needs and interests of their students and community. And, two, the effort to create a “balanced” list of required individuals inevitably results in very long lists of names as each constituency advocates the inclusion of individuals representative of their interests. Maximizing the use of “such as” wording in the TEKS allows schools greater instructional flexibility while still making a statement about the people who merit study in Social Studies classes.

Age-Appropriate Objectives

Following are a few examples of age-inappropriate objectives that resulted from amendments made by the SBOE at its January and March meetings:

A §113.12. (1st Grade) (12)(C)

Identify and describe the role of a good citizen in maintaining a constitutional republic and in keeping elected officials responsive to the wishes of the people.

B §113.12. (1st Grade) (13)(A)

Identify characteristics of good citizenship, including … holding public officials to their word … [repeats in 2nd and 3rd grades]

Accuracy and Sound Scholarship

A number of experts, including a wide range of noted historians and other educators from across the state and nation have challenged the accuracy and scholarship reflected in portions of the latest draft of the Social Studies TEKS. A few examples of the controversy include:

A Removing Thomas Jefferson as an Enlightenment writer (along with the term Enlightenment itself) in World History –

§113.44. (World History) (20) Government.

The student understands how contemporary political systems have developed from earlier systems of government. The student is expected to:

(C) Explain the impact of the writings of John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Voltaire, Charles de Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin, and William Blackstone.

B Justification of McCarthyism in U.S. History –

§113.41. (U.S. History) (8)(B)

Describe how McCarthyism, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the arms race, and the space race increased Cold War tensions and how the later release of the Venona Papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.

C Removing from objectives throughout the TEKS K-12 the word “capitalism” in reference to the type of economic system in the U.S.

Coherence

A §113.11. (Kindergarten) (2)

The student understands how historical figures, patriots, and good citizens helped to shape the community, state, and nation. The student is expected to:

(B) Identify contributions of patriots and good citizens who have shaped the community.

The substitution of “patriots and good citizens” for “other individuals” and “individuals” suggests a misleading construct in which people are classified into three distinct categories (historical figures, patriots, and good citizens). Kindergarten students may find it difficult to grasp and/or relate to such distinctions. Even understanding the meaning of “patriot” can be challenging for very young students. The first grade objective reverts to the more general (and inclusive) “individuals” wording.

B §113.44. (U.S. Government) (16) Citizenship.

The student understands the importance of the expression of different points of view in a constitutional republic. The student is expected to:

(B) analyze the importance of the First Amendment rights of petition, assembly, speech, and press and the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

This objective originally dealt with the importance of First Amendment rights to a democracy and the comprehensive way in which the U.S. Constitution created multiple opportunities for political expression by the people of the United States. The writing committee’s revised draft read, “The student understands the importance of the expression of different points of view in a democratic republic. The student is expected to: (B) analyze the importance of petition, assembly, speech and press in a democratic society.” Adding the Second Amendment to this citizenship objective unnecessarily muddied the study of citizen expression as a necessary component of a healthy and vigorous democracy.

Balance

A In a 6th Grade geography objective in which the student is to examine “the factors that influence the locations and characteristics of locations of various contemporary societies on maps and globes,” an added student expectation lists “major” countries for students to locate. The list references no countries in Central and South America and only two countries in Africa.

§113.18. (Grade 6) (4)(F)

Identify the location of major world countries such as Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Russia, South Africa, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Japan, North and South Korea, Indonesia, and Australia.

B Deleted “a belief in justice … and responsibility for the common good” as characteristics of good citizenship in the following objective:

§113.12. (1st Grade) (13)(A)

Identify characteristics of good citizenship including truthfulness, respect for others and oneself, responsibility in daily life, and participation in government by educating oneself about the issues, holding public officials to their word, and voting.

[repeats in 2nd and 3rd grades]

Please note: The examples cited in each area of concern are intended to be a small, but representative sampling of material in the draft TEKS and not a comprehensive list of material that might support a concern.

There are only 262 historical figures? There should be one more added to the list – Terry Grier. He is sure to win the award for hypocrisy. He should be recognized for firing teachers over test scores and then crying a big boo hoo hoo because there is too much “drill and kill” in the lead up to TAKS. What a crock!

Parents and more importantly voters in school board elections need to know that when teachers get fired over test scores there WILL MOST CERTAINLY BE drill and kill in the lead up to high stakes testing. If you are going to fire me over the way a student performs on a multiple choice test then you need to know that I will spend copious hours drilling and killing and making sure the students are ready to go in and regurgitate the crap the state demands that they know. period. full stop.

Hunter, before you complain, why don’t you step into my shoes for a while? I assume by your comments that you are an expert in history and know it all which must be why you are griping at the administrators. Personally, I HATE drill and kill – it teaches NOTHING!!! I want the kids to know why not just who. If you don’t understand why things happened the way they do then we are doomed to repeat the past. I guess you like all the horrible things that have happened. Know who did something bad is only half the knowledge. Knowing why they did what they did helps up prevent from making the same mistakes. Maybe you need to back to school and learn that lesson.

Well, people in AP and IB classes do not follow the state world and us history curicculum – instead they follow the standards of AP and IB. This is because the Texas US history in high school is post reconstruction, but in AP and IB the US history starts in the beginning.